Nippon Steel Business Information and History

About the major U.S. business Nippon Steel, its information and history, location and size.

NIPPON STEEL

NITTY GRITTY

Location--Nippon Steel's headquarters are in Tokyo. It has offices in Dusseldorf, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, and Singapore.

How Created--For 20 years Fuji Iron & Steel dominated the steel industry in northern Japan and Yawata Iron & Steel dominated the industry in southern Japan. Then, in October, 1969, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission approved merger of the 2 companies into Nippon Steel, with the provision that the new company give its competitors some plant equipment and technical know-how, and divest itself of a tin plate subsidiary. Nippon Steel began on April 1, 1970.

Size--Nippon Steel is the world's largest steel company. It operates 11 principal plants throughout Japan and sells its products throughout the world.

Population--96,841 employees.

Who Rules--Nippon Steel's overall policy is set by Chairman Yoshihiro Inayama and President Tomisaburo Hirai. The top executive positions are divided equally between former executives of the Yawata and Fuji steel companies. These executives are elected by a board of directors that includes the officers.

Who REALLY Rules--Monetary institutions and corporations own almost all of Nippon Steel's stock, just as they own most of the stock of Japan's 1,700 other publicly held companies.

The Industrial Bank of Japan is Nippon Steel's largest stockholder and largest lender, while Nippon Steel is the 2nd largest stockholder of the Industrial Bank of Japan. The Fuyo Group is Nippon Steel's 2nd largest lender and, through its Fuji Bank, is Nippon Steel's 3rd largest stockholder, while Nippon Steel is Fuji Bank's largest stockholder.

Although little of Nippon Steel's stock is held by individual citizens, the company must answer to these few shareholders at 2 meetings each year. These meetings usually last less than 20 minutes because paid management supporters, called sokaiya, surround the speaker's podium, protect management from verbal abuse, drown out criticism, and help management ram through their proposals.

NIPPON STEEL

NOTES

Former Chairman of the Board Shigeo Nagano is one of Japan's foremost industrial and business leaders. He is counselor to the Japan Development Bank and the Bank of Japan, adviser to the Ministry of International Trade & Industry, councillor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, vice-president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, chairman of the Prime Minister's Council for Foreign Economic Aid, president of the Japan and Tokyo Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and honorary president of the Japan Iron and Steel Foundation.